Shopping for a Health IT Solution? 4 Vendor Warning Signs

Almost every health IT vendor claims their software is the secret to a more profitable and productive practice. Unfortunately, many end up falling short.

It’s important to understand exactly what you’re signing up for when purchasing costly practice management and EHR solutions. So we’ve compiled a list of the four warning signs most indicative of subpar health IT vendors.

Be sure to avoid the following vendor and software characteristics when shopping for new health IT solution.

1.  They’re mysterious about cost.

You wouldn’t go to a restaurant and order the “chef’s special” without knowing the price right? The same should rule should apply for prospective health IT software.

A potential vendor should be transparent about their pricing.  Many client-server solutions have hidden costs, which aren’t communicated to customers during the sales process. Inquire into pricing by asking about typical long-term maintenance and upgrade costs.

Cloud-based software is an option for practices looking to save time and money since they mitigate up-front hardware and IT staff expenditures. Physicians typically pay for the software under a SaaS model with a lower cost of entry and predictable monthly rate.

2.  They didn’t develop their own software.

Many multi-solution health IT vendors are a product of various company acquisitions and mergers. While conglomerates may work well in some industries, they can cause crippling problems in the health-tech domain.

Mashing together practice management, EHR and revenue cycle management applications from different developers can get messy and cause usability issues. The best multi-application software is built together from the ground up, allowing for seamless integration.

3.  Dashboards aren’t customizable.

A comprehensive health IT solution should let you manage your practice, patient records and medical billing through a customizable dashboard that connects every aspect of your practice.

The most frequently used icons should be easy to identify and access.  And workflow tabs should be organized in a way that your staff can easily navigate.

If a potential software vendor doesn’t allow you to customize the dashboard to fit your needs, you should keep looking.

4.  No real-time reporting.

Real-time reports provide valuable insights that measure performance in a practical and simple way –– leading to better-informed management decisions.

The best software systems allow you to preschedule reports for certain times for ongoing analysis, as well as generate custom reports when specific information is needed quickly.

The top reporting engines can create reports in a variety of formats (HTML, PDF, CSV, etc.), automatically send them to distribution lists and allow multiple users to view the reports online.

Avoiding these issues should prevent you from the costly mistake of choosing the wrong vendor. Always remember to ask potential vendors any and all questions you may have prior to signing a contract. You don’t want to be stuck with a health IT vendor that holds your practice back from its full potential.

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